Art for Happiness

Art for Happiness
Author: Val Andrews
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2015-03-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9781508791805

If you've ever felt the urge to express yourself creatively, but you're not sure where to start, this book could be what you're looking for. Supported by contemporary research on the creative process, and sparkling reviews from readers, -Art for Happiness: finding your creative process and using it- is bound to inspire you. Crammed with information and exercises, this book will help you find your own ideas for realising your creative potential, and will provide you with the structure to see your creative projects through to completion. PART 1 is all about YOU. By asking you 5 key questions, it will tease out what's really important to you and how you view your creative self. It also leads you through some creative visualisations and prompts you to consider ways in which you can use these to fuel your creative ideas. There are also some exercises to help you focus your intentions on the creative work you want to do. PART 2 is all about your creative self. This starts with exercises to help you manage any negative self talk, and to work in partnership with your internal critic. There are also some exercises to help you find your creative conceptsand to protect your emerging creative self. Exercises to help you get into the zone of creative work and to manage your creative energy, are also included. PART 3 is about inspiring your creative self, with exercises to help you mine your childhood memoriesand major life events. There are also some stream of consciousness exercises you can do to extract key creative ideas from your subconscious and bring them forth into your creative projects. Dreamwork is also included, drawing upon the teachings of CG Jung. PART 4 helps you to sustain the momentum of your creative energy and ideas. There are exercises to help you ground yourself in your creative space, how to care for your creative self and share experiences with other artists who have similar interests to you. The processes for keeping your vision alive and recycling creative ideas alive are also covered in this part of the book. It also explains the difference between creativity and innovation and how you can move from one to the other. PART 5 of this book includes interviews with a number of established artists and writers; exploring their creative process and how they think and feel about their creative work. The final section of this book lists a number of other books for further reading on specific topics and ideas explored in this book. If you are interested in developing your creative self, but feel a bit stuck, this book will help you to get unstuck and get your creative energy flowing again.

Find Your Artistic Voice

Find Your Artistic Voice
Author: Lisa Congdon
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2019-08-06
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1452169055

An artist's unique voice is their calling card. It's what makes each of their works vital and particular. But developing such singular artistry requires effort and persistence. Bestselling author, artist, and illustrator Lisa Congdon brings her expertise to this guide to the process of artistic self-discovery. Featuring advice from Congdon herself and interviews with a roster of established artists, illustrators, and creatives, this one-of-a-kind book will show readers how to identify and nurture their own visual identity, navigate the influence of artists they admire, push through fear and insecurity, and appreciate the value of their personal journey.

Painting Happiness

Painting Happiness
Author: Terry Runyan
Publisher: Leaping Hare Press
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2022-04-05
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0711270570

Combat stress and anxiety and release your own inner creative with this beautiful mindful watercolour book. In this simple and vibrant guide, hugely popular Instagram muse @TerryRunyan explores the art of watercolour through the lens of mindfulness, presenting activities and projects which you can paint along with as you allow your creative side to flourish. This watercolour guide is easy and accessible for beginners, as Runyan gently delves into the basics of the artform, starting with simple techniques which you can follow along with, as well as presenting some fun projects ideas for painters to explore. Alongside beautiful examples of the techniques and styles explored in the book, Runyan also encourages readers to practice mindfulness as they paint, and explores the ways in which art can be used to help improve mental health. Exploring the idea of 'perfectly imperfect watercolours', Runyan places emphasis on self-expression and allowing yourself to make mistakes. Painting Happiness also includes fun projects for readers to try at home, including: Turning blobs into birds Creating wild hairstyles Experimenting with different prompts to paint at least one thing a day From technical skills and notes on materials to insight into the creative process, this book has everything you need to start flourishing in watercolour.

The Weatherly Guide to Drawing Animals

The Weatherly Guide to Drawing Animals
Author:
Publisher: Drawing Animals
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2003
Genre: Animals in art
ISBN: 9780971031418

"The Weatherly Guide to Drawing Animals focuses on learning how to draw animals using solid drawing principles."--Publisher.

The Artist's Way

The Artist's Way
Author: Julia Cameron
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2002-03-04
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1101156880

"With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times "Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—Vogue Over four million copies sold! Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.

The Creative Habit

The Creative Habit
Author: Twyla Tharp
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2009-03-24
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1439106568

One of the world’s leading creative artists, choreographers, and creator of the smash-hit Broadway show, Movin’ Out, shares her secrets for developing and honing your creative talents—at once prescriptive and inspirational, a book to stand alongside The Artist’s Way and Bird by Bird. All it takes to make creativity a part of your life is the willingness to make it a habit. It is the product of preparation and effort, and is within reach of everyone. Whether you are a painter, musician, businessperson, or simply an individual yearning to put your creativity to use, The Creative Habit provides you with thirty-two practical exercises based on the lessons Twyla Tharp has learned in her remarkable thirty-five-year career. In "Where's Your Pencil?" Tharp reminds you to observe the world -- and get it down on paper. In "Coins and Chaos," she gives you an easy way to restore order and peace. In "Do a Verb," she turns your mind and body into coworkers. In "Build a Bridge to the Next Day," she shows you how to clean the clutter from your mind overnight. Tharp leads you through the painful first steps of scratching for ideas, finding the spine of your work, and getting out of ruts and into productive grooves. The wide-open realm of possibilities can be energizing, and Twyla Tharp explains how to take a deep breath and begin...

Art & Fear

Art & Fear
Author: David Bayles
Publisher: Souvenir Press
Total Pages: 109
Release: 2023-02-09
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1800815999

'I always keep a copy of Art & Fear on my bookshelf' JAMES CLEAR, author of the #1 best-seller Atomic Habits 'A book for anyone and everyone who wants to face their fears and get to work' DEBBIE MILLMAN, author and host of the podcast Design Matters 'A timeless cult classic ... I've stolen tons of inspiration from this book over the years and so will you' AUSTIN KLEON, NYTimes bestselling author of Steal Like an Artist 'The ultimate pep talk for artists. ... An invaluable guide for living a creative, collaborative life.' WENDY MACNAUGHTON, illustrator Art & Fear is about the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn't get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way. Drawing on the authors' own experiences as two working artists, the book delves into the internal and external challenges to making art in the real world, and shows how they can be overcome every day. First published in 1994, Art & Fear quickly became an underground classic, and word-of-mouth has placed it among the best-selling books on artmaking and creativity. Written by artists for artists, it offers generous and wise insight into what it feels like to sit down at your easel or keyboard, in your studio or performance space, trying to do the work you need to do. Every artist, whether a beginner or a prizewinner, a student or a teacher, faces the same fears - and this book illuminates the way through them.

Against Happiness

Against Happiness
Author: Eric G. Wilson
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2008-01-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1429944218

Americans are addicted to happiness. When we're not popping pills, we leaf through scientific studies that take for granted our quest for happiness, or read self-help books by everyone from armchair philosophers and clinical psychologists to the Dalai Lama on how to achieve a trouble-free life: Stumbling on Happiness; Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment; The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living. The titles themselves draw a stark portrait of the war on melancholy. More than any other generation, Americans of today believe in the transformative power of positive thinking. But who says we're supposed to be happy? Where does it say that in the Bible, or in the Constitution? In Against Happiness, the scholar Eric G. Wilson argues that melancholia is necessary to any thriving culture, that it is the muse of great literature, painting, music, and innovation—and that it is the force underlying original insights. Francisco Goya, Emily Dickinson, Marcel Proust, and Abraham Lincoln were all confirmed melancholics. So enough Prozac-ing of our brains. Let's embrace our depressive sides as the wellspring of creativity. What most people take for contentment, Wilson argues, is living death, and what the majority takes for depression is a vital force. In Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy, Wilson suggests it would be better to relish the blues that make humans people.

The Artist's Way

The Artist's Way
Author: Julia Cameron
Publisher: Souvenir Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2020-04-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1782837655

'A really good starting point to discover what lights you up' - Emma Gannon 'Unlock your inner creativity and ease your anxiety' Daily Telegraph THE MULTI-MILLION-COPY WORLDWIDE BESTSELLER Since its first publication, The Artist's Way has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert, Tim Ferriss, Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron guides readers in uncovering problems and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to open up opportunities for growth and self-discovery. A revolutionary programme for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life. 'Each time I've learned something important and surprising about myself and my work ... Without The Artist's Way, there would have been no Eat, Pray, Love' - Elizabeth Gilbert